Martin still loves a challenge

IT seems an incredible statement for someone who has achieved so much. "If I had my time over again, and knowing what I know now, I might have tried to make more of a difference in politics earlier in my life," says Martin Bell. He will be at Bury Met on September 22.

IT seems an incredible statement for someone who has achieved so much. "If I had my time over again, and knowing what I know now, I might have tried to make more of a difference in politics earlier in my life," says Martin Bell.

"When I was MP for Tatton, I once saw a man trade votes for a peerage. Basically, by voting in a certain way, he made the Whips happy and that was his reward.

"I just don't know how those people live with themselves."

What you glean after a 30-minute chat with him is that this statement is a measure of the man's sincerity. And he has certainly never shied away from any kind of a fight.

As a BBC reporter, he risked his life for 33 years, reporting from more than 80 countries and 11 wars, starting with Vietnam and ending in Bosnia, where, in 1992, he was hit by shrapnel as he delivered a news bulletin from Sarajevo.

Whenever he appeared on the screen, viewers knew immediately that there was a distinct likelihood that gunshots and bloodshed would not be far away.

In 1997, he suddenly left his job, just 23 days before a general election, to stand against Neil Hamilton, the discredited Tory MP for the seat of Tatton in Cheshire.

But on the day we speak, Bell is being driven across London in a taxi for a night out.

It's the eve of the veteran broadcaster's 67th birthday and, by his own admission, the sedate and civilised existence he now enjoys is a world apart from the preceding four decades.

Does he miss the adrenaline rush of reporting from war zones? "I miss the wonderful camaraderie that used to exist among the journalists there," he adds. "After 33 years, I thought that I had reached the end of my time doing the job.

"Since I left, I think that the business of reporting from war zones has changed immensely. You never used to hear of journalists being shot, as happened to Frank Gardner, or taken hostage.

"I still go back to some of the war-torn nations these days, but strictly in my role as a Unicef representative.

"Ever since Audrey Hepburn, Unicef have asked people in the public eye to represent them. About a month ago, they asked me to go to Darfur in western Sudan which I was delighted to do to help them.

"I had a television crew with me - which means that I've still not quite managed to shake off the day job.

"Normally, they would ask people like Sir Alex Ferguson to represent them. But if it's a risky area, they ask me - I think I must be their expendable ambassador!"

New career

Despite one of the most distinguished careers of anyone in the BBC's ranks, Bell jumped at the opportunity for a new career.

A chance meeting led him to stand as an independent candidate for Tatton, on an anti-corruption ticket, in 1997.

"Just 23 days before the 1997 general election, I bumped into Labour MP Kate Hoey at a photography exhibition, and she happened to mention that the hunt was on for an independent candidate to fight the Tatton constituency," he recalls. "I went on to win the seat with a margin of 11,000. I thoroughly enjoyed my time as a constituency MP and relished the chance to help people.

"When asked what my greatest achievement was from that time, I would have to reply that it was getting rid of Neil Hamilton.

"But something I'm equally proud of was winning compensation payments for former Japanese prisoners of war."

During Bell's campaign in the constituency, he had promised that he would serve for just one term and, true to his word, he stepped down in 2001.

He searched for another seat to fight as an independent and eventually settled on Brentwood and Ongar in Essex, where Conservatives were complaining that their party was being infiltrated by the evangelical Peniel Pentecostal Church.

Despite predictions that he would finish fourth, Bell came second, with 13,737 votes, less than 3,000 behind the sitting MP, Eric Pickles, whose majority was cut by more than 6,000.

And, last year, he was back in the news again when he stood as Euro MP in the eastern region, but to no avail.

Although Bell has since famously declared that he is "too old" for both politics and journalism, you get the distinct impression that, if the right opportunity arose, he might be tempted.

"One of the few occasions that I've really regretted not being in Parliament any longer was on March 18, 2003, when the decision to go to war in Iraq was reached," he says.

"It was debated in the House and the Opposition just rubber-stamped the whole process.

"I thought that the whole affair was a disgrace to party politics.

"My view is that the reason why the war went ahead was because there was not a single member of the government who had worn a military uniform.

"When that's the case, politicians are always more inclined to go to war.

"If I've ever regretted not being in politics, it was the day the second Gulf War was announced."

Martin Bell OBE will be in discussion at The Met, Bury, on Thursday, September 22, from 8pm. £12, £14. For tickets, call 0161 761 2216.